Bayelsa State Governor Senator Douye Diri has called on African leaders to deliberately create opportunities for women to contribute at the highest levels of governance and public service, arguing that the continent’s developmental challenges were partly rooted in a failure to sufficiently integrate women into decision-making and that Africa could not afford to leave half of its human capital on the sidelines.
Speaking at the formal presentation of a book, magazine, and documentary in honour of the first female Mayor of Banjul, The Gambia, Mrs. Rohey Malick Lowe, at the Dawda Jawara International Conference Centre in Banjul, the governor described Lowe’s accomplishments as compelling evidence of what purposeful and inclusive leadership could achieve.
He said his administration in Bayelsa State had consciously expanded opportunities for women and young people to participate meaningfully at all levels of governance, rooting this commitment in experience and observation rather than sentiment. He urged African leaders to discard cultural practices that inhibit women in leadership.
On the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other Africans in South Africa, Diri said such acts wounded the fabric of Pan-African brotherhood that independence leaders such as Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara had fought to build, and that the regional response must be guided by compassion, solidarity, and pragmatic support rather than retaliation.
The Yenagoa Local Government Area Council and the Banjul City Council signed a sister-city agreement on economic development during the event, signed by Mayor Bulodisiye Ndiwari for Yenagoa and Mayor Lowe for Banjul. Lowe presented a key to the City of Banjul to the governor in recognition of his support for women’s empowerment. Keynote speaker and former Mayor of Leeds, United Kingdom, Mrs. Abigail Marshal-Katung described Lowe as a living legend who had taken her city’s name across oceans and into the highest chambers of global power.
